The average salary increase for IT professionals was considerably smaller in 2007 than it was in 2006, says a report released on Tuesday.

IT pay in the U.S. rose an average of 1.7% to an average salary of $74,570 in 2007, according to a report by Dice, a career site for technology and engineering professionals. That figure compares with an average increase of 5.2% that technology professionals got in their paycheck in 2006.

The boost in 2006 was attributed to unusually large raises that IT contractors received that year. The average pay raise for IT contractors in 2006 was 9%, compared with an average pay increase of 3.7% those professionals received in 2007. IT contractors in 2007 earned an average of $93,017 for the year.

The highest paid IT pros were managers. Salaries for project managers in 2007 rose by 5.0% to an average of $101,292, while those professionals with an MIS manager title saw their average salary increase 7.8% to $88,934.

Top IT executives -- including those with the title of CIO, VP, and chief technology officer -- received an average pay raise of 1.47%, earning an average $107,830 in 2007.

So where are the biggest bucks paid? In Silicon Valley, where the average IT pro received a 3.95% raise and earned $93,876. IT pros in Boston came in second, earning an average of $83,465 and getting pay raises averaging 3.93% last year.

Sector also matters. Workers at E-commerce companies got the biggest raises last year, an average of 4.6%. Still, that's down nearly 10% from 2006, when raises in that sector averaged about 14%. In 2007, tech workers in E-commerce earned an average of $66,782.

The mortgage crisis in the U.S. also seemed to affect pay for techies in the banking and financial services sector. Those IT professionals received raises averaging only about 0.6% in 2007, earning an average of $82,961.

Finally, there were even a few sectors that saw their pay shrink last year. IT pros in the telecom sector saw their average pay decrease by 0.89% to $77,312 in 2007, from $78,003 in 2006.